The Promise
of World Peace
Universal House of Justice
Reprinted from the Bahá'í World.
Introduction
October 1985
To the Peoples of the World:
The Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries have
inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless generations have
expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the sacred scriptures
of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at long last within the
reach of the nations. For the first time in history it is possible for everyone
to view the entire planet, with all its myriad diversified peoples, in one perspective.
World peace is not only possible but inevitable. It is the next stage in the
evolution of this planet--in the words of one great thinker, "the planetization
of mankind".
Whether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors precipitated
by humanity's stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour, or is to be embraced
now by an act of consultative will, is the choice before all who inhabit the
earth. At this critical juncture when the intractable problems confronting nations
have been fused into one common concern for the whole world, failure to stem
the tide of conflict and disorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.
Among the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps towards
world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in the creation
of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based United Nations
Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of independence by
the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the completion of the process
of nation building, and the involvement of these fledgling nations with older
ones in matters of mutual concern; the consequent vast increase in co-operation
among hitherto isolated and antagonistic peoples and groups in international
undertakings in the scientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields;
the rise in recent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian
organizations; the spread of women's and youth movements calling for an end
to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary people
seeking understanding through personal communication.
The scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually blessed
century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of the planet,
and indicate the means by which the practical problems of humanity may be solved.
They provide, indeed, the very means for the administration of the complex life
of a united world. Yet barriers persist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices,
suspicions and narrow self-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations
one to another.
It is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled at
this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating insights first
communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century ago by Bahá'u'lláh
, Founder of the Bahá'í Faith, of which we are the Trustees.
"The winds of despair", Bahá'u'lláh wrote, "are, alas, blowing
from every direction, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race
is daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be
discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably defective."
This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the common experience of
humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are conspicuous in the inability of
sovereign states organized as United Nations to exorcize the spectre of war,
the threatened collapse of the international economic order, the spread of anarchy
and terrorism, and the intense suffering which these and other afflictions are
causing to increasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict
come to characterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have
succumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and therefore
ineradicable.
With the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has developed
in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations proclaim not only their
readiness but their longing for peace and harmony, for an end to the harrowing
apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On the other, uncritical assent
is given to the proposition that human beings are incorrigibly selfish and aggressive
and thus incapable of erecting a social system at once progressive and peaceful,
dynamic and harmonious, a system giving free play to individual creativity and
initiative but based on co-operation and reciprocity.
As the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction, which
hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions upon which
the commonly held view of mankind's historical predicament is based. Dis- passionately
examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct, far from expressing man's
true self, represents a distortion of the human spirit. Satisfaction on this
point will enable all people to set in motion constructive social forces which,
because they are consistent with human nature, will encourage harmony and co-operation
instead of war and conflict.
To choose such a course is not to deny humanity's past but to understand it.
The Bahá'í Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous
condition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process leading
ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race in a single
social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The human race, as a
distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary stages analogous to
the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of its individual members,
and is now in the culminating period of its turbulent adolescence approaching
its long-awaited coming of age.
A candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been the
expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that the human
race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks its collective
coming of age is not a reason for despair but a prerequisite to undertaking
the stupendous enterprise of building a peaceful world. That such an enterprise
is possible, that the necessary constructive forces do exist, that unifying
social structures can be erected, is the theme we urge you to examine.
Whatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold, however
dark the immediate circumstances, the Bahá'í community believes
that humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its ultimate
outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the convulsive changes
towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly impelled will serve to release
the "potentialities inherent in the station of man" and reveal "the full measure
of his destiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality".
Section I
The endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of life
are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its essential
quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build civilizations and to
prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone have never satisfied the
human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it towards transcendence, a reaching
towards an invisible realm, towards the ultimate reality, that unknowable essence
of essences called God. The religions brought to mankind by a succession of
spiritual luminaries have been the primary link between humanity and that ultimate
reality, and have galvanized and refined mankind's capacity to achieve spiritual
success together with social progress.
No serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace, can
ignore religion. Man's perception and practice of it are largely the stuff of
history. An eminent historian described religion as a "faculty of human nature".
That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much of the confusion
in society and the conflicts in and between individuals can hardly be denied.
But neither can any fair-minded observer discount the preponderating influence
exerted by religion on the vital expressions of civilization. Furthermore, its
indispensability to social order has repeatedly been demonstrated by its direct
effect on laws and morality.
Writing of religion as a social force, Bahá'u'lláh said: "Religion
is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and
for the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein." Referring to the eclipse
or corruption of religion, he wrote: "Should the lamp of religion be obscured,
chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness, of justice, of tranquillity
and peace cease to shine." In an enumeration of such consequences the Bahá'í
writings point out that the "perversion of human nature, the degradation of
human conduct, the corruption and dissolution of human institutions, reveal
themselves, under such circumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects.
Human character is debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are
relaxed, the voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and
shame is obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and loyalty
are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of hope is gradually
extinguished."
If, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must look
to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has listened,
for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion perpetrated in the name
of religion. Those who have held blindly and selfishly to their particular orthodoxies,
who have imposed on their votaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations
of the pronouncements of the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for
this confusion--a confusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between
faith and reason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of
the actual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the social
milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions, there is nothing
to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the religious communities
of mankind and therefore all human affairs.
The teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be treated,
an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends force to this
latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up the moral attitude,
the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these religions irrespective of
their place or time of origin; it also signifies an aspect of unity which is
their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in its disjointed view of history has
failed to appreciate.
Had humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true character,
as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have reaped incalculably
greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their successive missions. This,
alas, it failed to do.
The resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands cannot
be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the violent
and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the spiritual bankruptcy
it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and saddest features of the current
outbreak of religious fanaticism is the extent to which, in each case, it is
undermining not only the spiritual values which are conducive to the unity of
mankind but also those unique moral victories won by the particular religion
it purports to serve.
However vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and however
dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism, religion and
religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by increasing numbers
of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the modern world. In its place
they have turned either to the hedonistic pursuit of material satisfactions
or to the following of man-made ideologies designed to rescue society from the
evident evils under which it groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas,
instead of embracing the concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the
increase of concord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state,
to subordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt
to suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously abandon
starving millions to the operations of a market system that all too clearly
is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while enabling small sections
to live in a condition of affluence scarcely dreamed of by our forebears.
How tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of our
age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations who have
been taught to worship at their altars can be read history's irreversible verdict
on their value. The fruits these doctrines have produced, after decades of an
increasingly unrestrained exercise of power by those who owe their ascendancy
in human affairs to them, are the social and economic ills that blight every
region of our world in the closing years of the twentieth century. Underlying
all these outward afflictions is the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy
that has gripped the mass of the peoples of all nations and by the extinction
of hope in the hearts of deprived and anguished millions.
The time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether of
the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give account
of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is the "new world"
promised by these ideologies? Where is the international peace to whose ideals
they proclaim their devotion? Where are the breakthroughs into new realms of
cultural achievement produced by the aggrandizement of this race, of that nation
or of a particular class? Why is the vast majority of the world's peoples sinking
ever deeper into hunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of
by the Pharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth
century is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?
Most particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at once
the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we find the roots
which nourish the falsehood that human beings are incorrigibly selfish and aggressive.
It is here that the ground must be cleared for the building of a new world fit
for our descendants.
That materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to satisfy
the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a fresh effort
must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing problems of the planet.
The intolerable conditions pervading society bespeak a common failure of all,
a circumstance which tends to incite rather than relieve the entrenchment on
every side. Clearly, a common remedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily
a matter of attitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to
outworn concepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless
of ideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a united
search for appropriate solutions?
Those who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this advice.
"If long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if certain social
assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote the welfare of the
generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to the needs of a continually
evolving humanity, let them be swept away and relegated to the limbo of obsolescent
and forgotten doctrines. Why should these, in a world subject to the immutable
law of change and decay, be exempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake
every human institution? For legal standards, political and economic theories
are solely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not
humanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any particular
law or doctrine."
Section II
Banning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing germ
warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important such practical
measures obviously are as elements of the peace process, they are in themselves
too superficial to exert enduring influence. Peoples are ingenious enough to
invent yet other forms of warfare, and to use food, raw materials, finance,
industrial power, ideology, and terrorism to subvert one another in an endless
quest for supremacy and dominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in
the affairs of humanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts
or disagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be adopted.
Certainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the world-wide
character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting issues that
confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies and solutions proposed
by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as by agencies of the United
Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance as to the challenging requirements
to be met. There is, however, a paralysis of will; and it is this that must
be carefully examined and resolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as
we have stated, in a deep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness
of mankind, which has led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of
subordinating national self-interest to the requirements of world order, and
in an unwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of establishing
a united world authority. It is also traceable to the incapacity of largely
ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their desire for a new order in
which they can live in peace, harmony and prosperity with all humanity.
The tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II, give
hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to formalize relationships
which enable them to co-operate in matters of mutual interest suggests that
eventually all nations could overcome this paralysis. The Association of South
East Asian Nations, the Caribbean Community and Common Market, the Central American
Common Market, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities,
the League of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization
of American States, the South Pacific Forum--all the joint endeavours represented
by such organizations prepare the path to world order.
The increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted problems
of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious shortcomings
of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations and conventions
adopted by that organization, even where governments have not been enthusiastic
in their commitment, have given ordinary people a sense of a new lease on life.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and the similar measures concerned
with eliminating all forms of discrimination based on race, sex or religious
belief; upholding the rights of the child; protecting all persons against being
subjected to torture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific
and technological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of mankind--all
such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will advance the day when
the spectre of war will have lost its power to dominate international relations.
There is no need to stress the significance of the issues addressed by these
declarations and conventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate
relevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.
Racism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier to
peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the dignity of
human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism retards the unfoldment
of the boundless potentialities of its victims, corrupts its perpetrators, and
blights human progress. Recognition of the oneness of mankind, implemented by
appropriate legal measures, must be universally upheld if this problem is to
be overcome.
The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute suffering,
keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink of war. Few
societies have dealt effectively with this situation. The solution calls for
the combined application of spiritual, moral and practical approaches. A fresh
look at the problem is required, entailing consultation with experts from a
wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of economic and ideological polemics, and
involving the people directly affected in the decisions that must urgently be
made. It is an issue that is bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating
extremes of wealth and poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding
of which can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is
itself a major part of the solution.
Unbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate patriotism,
must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a whole. Bahá'u'lláh
's statement is: "The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens." The
concept of world citizenship is a direct result of the contraction of the world
into a single neighbourhood through scientific advances and of the indisputable
interdependence of nations. Love of all the world's peoples does not exclude
love of one's country. The advantage of the part in a world society is best
served by promoting the advantage of the whole. Current international activities
in various fields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among
peoples need greatly to be increased.
Religious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable wars
and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly abhorrent to
the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all religions must be willing
to face the basic questions which this strife raises, and to arrive at clear
answers. How are the differences between them to be resolved, both in theory
and in practice? The challenge facing the religious leaders of mankind is to
contemplate, with hearts filled with the spirit of compassion and a desire for
truth, the plight of humanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in
humility before their Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences
in a great spirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together
for the advancement of human understanding and peace.
The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the sexes,
is one of the most important, though less acknowledged prerequisites of peace.
The denial of such equality perpetrates an injustice against one half of the
world's population and promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits that are
carried from the family to the workplace, to political life, and ultimately
to international relations. There are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological,
upon which such denial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full
partnership in all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological
climate be created in which international peace can emerge.
The cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its service
an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves the utmost
support that the governments of the world can lend it. For ignorance is indisputably
the principal reason for the decline and fall of peoples and the perpetuation
of prejudice. No nation can achieve success unless education is accorded all
its citizens. Lack of resources limits the ability of many nations to fulfil
this necessity, imposing a certain ordering of priorities. The decision-making
agencies involved would do well to consider giving first priority to the education
of women and girls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of
knowledge can be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In
keeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be given
to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard education
of every child.
A fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines efforts
towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language would go far
to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent attention.
Two points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition of
war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a complex
task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not customarily
associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political agreements alone, the
idea of collective security is a chimera. The other point is that the primary
challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to raise the context to the level
of principle, as distinct from pure pragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems
from an inner state supported by a spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly
in evoking this attitude that the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.
There are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which solutions
can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned group can in a general
sense devise practical solutions to its problems, but good intentions and practical
knowledge are usually not enough. The essential merit of spiritual principle
is that it not only presents a perspective which harmonizes with that which
is immanent in human nature, it also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will,
an aspiration, which facilitate the discovery and implementation of practical
measures. Leaders of governments and all in authority would be well served in
their efforts to solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles
involved and then be guided by them.
Section III
The primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its entrenched
pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and co-operation
will prevail.
World order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the oneness
of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences confirm. Anthropology,
physiology, psychology, recognize only one human species, albeit infinitely
varied in the secondary aspects of life. Recognition of this truth requires
abandonment of prejudice--prejudice of every kind--race, class, colour, creed,
nation, sex, degree of material civilization, everything which enables people
to consider themselves superior to others.
Acceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite for
reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the home of humankind.
Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is essential to any successful
attempt to establish world peace. It should therefore be universally proclaimed,
taught in schools, and constantly asserted in every nation as preparation for
the organic change in the structure of society which it implies.
In the Bahá'í view, recognition of the oneness of mankind "calls
for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized
world--a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life,
its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its
script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics
of its federated units."
Elaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi, the
Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, commented in 1931 that: "Far from
aiming at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to
broaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with the
needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances,
nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the
flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in men's hearts, nor to abolish the
system of national autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive centralization
are to be avoided. It does not ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress, the
diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language and tradition,
of thought and habit, that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world.
It calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated
the human race. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests
to the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive centralization
on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on the other. Its watchword
is unity in diversity".
The achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of national
political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of clearly defined
laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles regulating the relationships
between nations. The League of Nations, the United Nations, and the many organizations
and agreements produced by them have unquestionably been helpful in attenuating
some of the negative effects of international conflicts, but they have shown
themselves incapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars
since the end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.
The predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the nineteenth
century when Bahá'u'lláh first advanced his proposals for the
establishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was propounded
by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world. Shoghi Effendi commented
on his meaning: "What else could these weighty words signify," he wrote, "if
they did not point to the inevitable curtailment of unfettered national sovereignty
as an indispensable preliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth
of all the nations of the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs
be evolved, in whose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly
ceded every claim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights
to maintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order within
their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include within its orbit
an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme and unchallengeable authority
on every recalcitrant member of the commonwealth; a World Parliament whose members
shall be elected by the people in their respective countries and whose election
shall be confirmed by their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose
judgement will have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned
did not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.
"A world community in which all economic barriers will have been permanently
demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour definitely recognized;
in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and strife will have been forever
stilled; in which the flame of racial animosity will have been finally extinguished;
in which a single code of international law--the product of the considered judgement
of the world's federated representatives--shall have as its sanction the instant
and coercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and
finally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant nationalism
will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of world citizenship--such
indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order anticipated by Bahá'u'lláh
, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the fairest fruit of a slowly maturing
age."
The implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by Bahá'u'lláh
: "The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast,
an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers
and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations,
must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world's
Great Peace amongst men."
The courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one people
for another--all the spiritual and moral qualities required for effecting this
momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to act. And it is towards
arousing the necessary volition that earnest consideration must be given to
the reality of man, namely, his thought. To understand the relevance of this
potent reality is also to appreciate the social necessity of actualizing its
unique value through candid, dispassionate and cordial consultation, and of
acting upon the results of this process. Bahá'u'lláh insistently
drew attention to the virtues and indispensability of consultation for ordering
human affairs. He said: "Consultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes
conjecture into certitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads
the way and guides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station
of perfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made
manifest through consultation." The very attempt to achieve peace through the
consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit among the
peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final, triumphal outcome.
Concerning the proceedings for this world gathering, `Abdu'l-Bahá , the
son of Bahá'u'lláh and authorized interpreter of his teachings,
offered these insights: "They must make the Cause of Peace the object of general
consultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union of
the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and establish
a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable and definite.
They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the sanction of all
the human race. This supreme and noble undertaking--the real source of the peace
and well-being of all the world--should be regarded as sacred by all that dwell
on earth. All the forces of humanity must be mobilized to ensure the stability
and permanence of this Most Great Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits
and frontiers of each and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles
underlying the relations of governments towards one another definitely laid
down, and all international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like
manner, the size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited,
for if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation should
be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others. The fundamental
principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed that if any government
later violate any one of its provisions, all the governments on earth should
arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay the human race as a whole should
resolve, with every power at its disposal, to destroy that government. Should
this greatest of all remedies be applied to the sick body of the world, it will
assuredly recover from its ills and will remain eternally safe and secure."
The holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.
With all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations to
seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this world
meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this act which
will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.
Will not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise to
the high purposes of such a crowning event?
Let men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal merit
of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices in willing
assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this glorious stage
in the evolution of social life on the planet.
Section IV
The source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation of
war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation. Permanent peace
among nations is an essential stage, but not, Bahá'u'lláh asserts,
the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond the initial
armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear holocaust, beyond the
political peace reluctantly entered into by suspicious rival nations, beyond
pragmatic arrangements for security and coexistence, beyond even the many experiments
in co-operation which these steps will make possible lies the crowning goal:
the unification of all the peoples of the world in one universal family.
Disunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no longer
endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too obvious to require
any demonstration. "The well-being of mankind," Bahá'u'lláh wrote
more than a century ago, "its peace and security, are unattainable unless and
until its unity is firmly established." In observing that "mankind is groaning,
is dying to be led to unity, and to terminate its age-long martyrdom", Shoghi
Effendi further commented that: "Unification of the whole of mankind is the
hall-mark of the stage which human society is now approaching. Unity of family,
of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully
established. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving.
Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty
is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this
fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish
once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental principle
of its life."
All contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be discerned
in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs towards world peace
in current international movements and developments. The army of men and women,
drawn from virtually every culture, race and nation on earth, who serve the
multifarious agencies of the United Nations, represent a planetary "civil service"
whose impressive accomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation
that can be attained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity,
like a spiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless international
congresses that bring together people from a vast array of disciplines. It motivates
appeals for international projects involving children and youth. Indeed, it
is the real source of the remarkable movement towards ecumenism by which members
of historically antagonistic religions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards
one another. Together with the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement
against which it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one
of the dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing
years of the twentieth century.
The experience of the Bahá'í community may be seen as an example
of this enlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people
drawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide range
of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of the peoples
of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative of the diversity
of the human family, conducting its affairs through a system of commonly accepted
consultative principles, and cherishing equally all the great outpourings of
divine guidance in human history. Its existence is yet another convincing proof
of the practicality of its Founder's vision of a united world, another evidence
that humanity can live as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its
coming of age may entail. If the Bahá'í experience can contribute
in whatever measure to reinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are
happy to offer it as a model for study.
In contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the entire
world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of the divine
Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity from the same
stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with intellect and wisdom,
nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the "unique distinction and
capacity to know Him and to love Him", a capacity that "must needs be regarded
as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation."
We hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created "to carry
forward an ever-advancing civilization"; that "to act like the beasts of the
field is unworthy of man"; that the virtues that befit human dignity are trustworthiness,
forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm
the belief that the "potentialities inherent in the station of man, the full
measure of his destiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must
all be manifested in this promised Day of God." These are the motivations for
our unshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards which
humanity is striving.
At this writing, the expectant voices of Bahá'ís can be heard
despite the persecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was
born. By their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that
the imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue of
the transforming effects of Bahá'u'lláh 's revelation, invested
with the force of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision
in words: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the
anxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We join
with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end to conflict
and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and world order promotes
the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called into being by an all-loving
Creator.
In the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope and
the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of Bahá'u'lláh
: "These fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the 'Most
Great Peace' shall come."
THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
Reprint taken from: http://www.bahai.org/article-1-7-2-1.html
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